More shopping

... in the future.

I finally ventured into Queensbay Mall which opened two weeks ago. It is huge. And only half the stores are open. They have a Borders bookstore with Starbucks attached, and a GAP is opening soon. IT and I have a theory that the degree of modernity a country possesses is directly proportional to the number of Starbucks and big bookstores (eg Borders, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, Indigo) it has. You will note that the Netherlands boasts neither Starbucks nor big bookstores.

As I am getting into shopping confessions - I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I miss the rampant consumerism that characterises the run-up to Christmas in Canada and the US. If I were there at this time of year I would be knee-deep in shopping, fighting the crowds in the malls at the weekend, just for fun. And best of all I would be curled up in bed with hot chocolate at night while thumbing through the dog-eared catalogues on my bedside table - glossy, succulent, seductive material from the likes of Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and Eddie Bauer. No wonder they call them p0rn for girls.

Tonight the Neiman Marcus website had to take the place of those beloved catalogues. But it's not quite the same. You could perhaps conclude that I'm not a fan of internet p0rn.